The Shift

So then we all ask: How did we, the apathetic generation, get from there to here?

In the Classical Period of Greece, the great thinkers, Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, all sought to question, to answer, and to reach higher levels of the mind. However, as time progressed, humans learned that perfection is not as easily achieved as the sculpture of David or the Golden Ratio of the Parthenon. Humans learned that the world is cruel, war is bound to happen, industrialization is ugly, nuclear weapons destroy cities, and that most importantly the majority just don’t care.

During the postmodern era, the ugly truths of war and morality were revealed as people drifted away from a universal jurisdiction and boundary of responsibilities. Relativity was on the tips of everyone’s tongues. The moral code was “you do your thing and I’ll do mine” and the period was “proudly distinguished by the absence of ‘rigid’ opinions and moral values”(Kimball). Even one’s identity was a matter of relativity. You were no longer just a male or female—you embraced both gender and sexuality. You were no longer Irish or Polish—you recognized your blood, surroundings, and allegiance. Every aspect of “you” had “a possible place in the sun or in the shade” (Maalouf, 15).

It's the Dictatorship of Relativism (Kimball).

As Einstein’s theory of relativity emerged, people questioned their social spheres and as the postmodern generation sank further into the dangerous sphere of existentialism vs. nihilism, a general aura of apathy emerged as the moral code transgressed to  “since there is no right answer, and no universal theme, why look for it? Who cares?”

This is the generation of those who slaved across the finish line in the race to nowhere. This is the generation of those useless high SAT scores and polished resumes.